Local Wildlife Sightings, February 2026

 With the exception of a few days in the first half of January, the weather in the first six weeks of 2026 was dull, dank and dismal. Rainfall in this part of the country was well above average but not excessive, and sunshine was at a premium. We were lucky to avoid the extreme rainfall and flooding in the south west of England or the heavy snowfall and 20+ days without sunshine in Aberdeenshire, but the late winter weather here was pretty miserable, nonetheless. No unusual birds were seen in or from the garden, although Stock Doves were back, underneath the feeders, from late January. In the surrounding area, large flocks of Redwings and Fieldfares were seen. Were these birds new arrivals, driven out of The Continent by continuing bad weather, returning birds from further west or had they been around locally, out of sight and hearing, throughout the winter?

Stock Dove in my Garden, 1 February

I was lucky to get a glimpse of a wintering Bittern when I visited Amwell on the 2nd. It crossed a patch of cut reeds near the White Hide (as seen from the viewpoint) before I had time to get my camera ready. There are possibly two Bitterns wintering here, but they are very hard to see! A large flock of Lapwings was flying about, looking for somewhere to land - most of the islands had been submerged as the water levels had risen during this very wet period.

Lapwings with Egyptian and Canada Geese, Amwell, 2 February

UK Wildlife Sightings, February 2026

 On a dank, dismal day that was a feature of late January and early February, I visited Grafham Water (Cambridgeshire) on the 3rd, hoping to see one of the many (up to nine) Great Northern Divers that were wintering there. I was in luck: not only was a diver resting near the dam, close to the main car park, but I had chosen a day when parking was free! With a maximum temperature of 3C on the day and a lively breeze blowing in my face, I took a few photos of the diver and of a nearby flock of 20-25 Goldeneyes and left.

Great Northern Diver, Grafham Water, 3 February

I was lucky that a free day for bird watching (on the 4th) coincided with the best weather in the first week of February (dull, but bright with occasional sunshine later in the day and no rain until after dark). I visited the east coast of Norfolk, starting at Great Yarmouth where there used to be a sizeable flock of wintering Mediterranean Gulls (10-20 birds) on the beach on past visits. I hadn't been for a few years and could only find two birds this time. Whether this was due to a decline in wintering numbers or that other birds were elsewhere in the area, I don't know.

Mediterranean Gull, Great Yarmouth Beach, 4 February

I moved up the coast to Winterton, where I soon found the wintering Snow Buntings, my target species, sitting on top of one of the fishermens' huts, close to the car park. A couple of photographers were lying on the ground nearby, waiting for the birds to come down to feed on a patch of grass that had probably been 'laced' with bird seed. However, the buntings were reluctant to come down to the ground so I left them to it and moved on again, heading for Sea Palling.

Three of a flock of 23 Snow Buntings on the roof of a fisherman's hut, Winterton, 4 February

The juvenile Iceland Gull, my target species at Sea Palling, was located a few hundred metres north west of the lifeboat station, feeding alongside a few hundred other gulls and waders from a section of beach that stuck out into the sea, close to some rocks. I was told that adult and first winter Caspian Gulls were amongst the many Herring Gulls seen here, but for once I didn't spend much time searching for them - I had more bird watching to do.

Juvenile Iceland Gull (on the right) with other gulls, Sea Palling, 4 February

My final stop was at Hickling Broad, where I walked around the Norfolk Wildlife Trust reserve before heading down to the raptor watchpoint at Stubb Mill. On the way round the reserve I added Bearded Tit, Treecreeper and a single over-flying Common Crane to my year list. A Black-winged Kite, probably the same bird that I had seen for the first time at Hickling last year, had been present nearby during the previous week, but I was out of luck here: the bird did not make an appearance and was not seen on subsequent days either. However, as I was about to leave the raptor roost site at Stubb Mill a male Hen Harrier came in to roost. I missed this bird as I was putting up my tripod again to look for it, but I did see one of possibly two 'ringtails' (females or first winter males) that followed it in, to complete an excellent, if hard working, day of bird watching.